Random Most Blatant Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ripoffs (10 items)

(#4) Samurai Pizza Cats
- Rick Jones, Sonja Ball, Terrence Scammell, Pauline Little, Dean Hagopian
A Japanese-produced cartoon originally airing from 1990-1991, Samurai Pizza Cats is arguably the most blatant ripoff of the Ninja Turtles. A cult hit among anime fans for its rapid-fire pop culture references, Samurai Pizza Cats made no attempt to hide the source of its inspiration. Heck, just look at the title - they're samurai (not ninjas, no, but definitely ninja-adjacent) who love pizza! Have you no shame, Saban Entertainment?
(#5) Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa
- Jim Cummings, Jeff Bennett, Pat Fraley
Yet another instance of animal mutations, these ruminants weren't changed by some mysterious ooze, but rather by an irradiated comet (or "cow-met"). For two seasons (in 1992 and 1993), Marshal Moo Montana, the Dakota Dude, and the Cowlorado Kid swore to uphold the Code of the West by protecting their fair town from the villainous Mayor Oscar Bulloney and Sheriff Terrorbull. They even had a line of action figures, a comic book, and an arcade game.
Hey, at least the Cowboys of Moo Mesa took a different approach to the TMNT ripoff by adding a little Southern twang and endless bovine puns.
(#2) Battletoads
- Kathleen Barr, Scott McNeil, Michael Donovan, Ian James Corlett, Alvin Sanders, Andrew Kavadas, Jason Michas
Battletoads was one of the most popular beat-em-up video games of the early '90s, but not even the people at Tradewest (now a long-forgotten video game company) could deny comparisons to the Ninja Turtles. Just sub out reptiles for amphibians, and nobody will know the difference, right?
In 1992, a pilot for Battletoads (written by none other than David Wise, the head writer of the classic 1987 TMNT animated series) aired, showcasing the sick skills of Rash, Pimple, and Zitz and their adventures in Oxnard, CA, but that was the only episode made. The 'Toads starred in some more video games produced in the mid 90s, including a crossover with Double Dragon, but have since faded into obscurity.
(#7) Creepy Crawlers
- Joey Camen, Heidi Lenhart
Loosely based on the popular toy oven that allowed kids to bake spiders, insects, and assorted bugs using "Plasti-Goop," Creepy Crawlers the animated series aired from '94-'96 with 23 Goop-tastic episodes. In the series, teenager Chris Carter builds a device called "The Magic Maker" (identical to the toy oven) which, combined with cosmic energies that rain down from the sky due to a conveniently-timed planetary alignment, result in the creation of human-sized magic/bug creatures who Chris dubs "Goop-Mandos." Together, they regularly thwart the evil Dr. Googengrime's schemes of world domination.
(#10) The Bots Master
- Ian James Corlett, Richard Ian Cox, Michael Donovan
In 1993, Bots Master attempted to break the teenage-led super team mold that the Turtles laid out by trying something different - having entirely too many characters to keep up with. Oh, and incorporating occasional 3D into the animation.
Our hero is Ziv "ZZ' Zulander (the titular Bots Master), a robotic engineer who works for RM Corp, owned by the tyrannical Sir Lewis Leon Paradim. ZZ's distincly uncomfortable with Paradim's desire for world domination, so he creates a slew of robot freedom fighters. Like, way too many of them to keep track of - there's a rapper, a doctor, a ninja, a cook, a shelf of talking heads, some sports-themed bots, a few that merge together like Voltron, and at least a dozen or so more. The poorly-received toy line didn't even manage to cover them all.
(#6) Road Rovers
- Jess Harnell, Tress MacNeille, Kevin Michael Richardson
An all but forgotten series on Kids' WB, Road Rovers aired between September '96 and February '97. The show follows the exploits of five canines who are the pets of world leaders by day, but by night are a team of super-powered anthropomorphic dogs thanks to the experiments of friendly geneticist, Dr. Shepherd (or as they call him, "The Master").
The sixth member of their team is a vicious, rabid rottweiler named Muzzle who is always restrained in a straight jacket and a Hannibal Lecter-esque hand cart. Together, the team is tasked with battling terrorists and bad guys worldwide, particularly the vindictive General Parvo, a name derived from the canine disease that kills puppies. Adorable!